Electrical fuel-vaporizer.



' W. WHEELER.

ELECTRICAL FUEL VAPORIZE-R.

-APPLICATION mu) JUNE 26. 1911.

1,264,724. Patented Apr. 30,1918.

J V j/zrg mi I r 5 5 INVENTOR I 6 MW M4 m it A TTOHNE Y heat wherebWHEELER, 0! BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ELECTBIEQAL FUEL-VAIORIZER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 30, 1918.

Application Median: 26, 1917. Serial No. 177,046.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that WILLIAM WHEELER, a citizen of the United States, andresident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ofNew York, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in ElectricalFuel-Vaporizers, of which the following is a specification.

i This invention relates to means for va orizing liquid fuel for use ininternal-com ustion motors, and it comprehends meansenabling'ele'ctrical current, in conjunction with a resistor element, tofurnish thede sired liquid fuel, in its passage to the manifolr orengine intake, may be raised in temperature and'gasified. In practisingmy invention I have 'plaoedthe resistor in the passe e between thecarburetor and the engine, w ereby the'mixture of fuel and air 26 whichissues from the carbureter is. caused totraverse a heat'passage, inorder that in such transit the fuel and air may become thoroughly mixedthrough the action of heat in volatilizing the fuel. The fuelconductingdevice, which may also support the resistor, may be divided upinto a number of'small ducts, each containing a resistor strand orlength, in orde that the volume of mingled fuel and air passing throu heach of these ducts may be relatively snia l, to permit a more thoroughthe passing ffnel charge by is heat generated.' Alsoby means of arheostat or other devices for varyin the amperage, I am enabled toregulate t e degree of heatgenerated in the resistor, and thus to governthe developed temperature according to. the requirements.

Preheating means for hydrocarbon mixtures, while well known in gasengine practice, have hitherto been limited toservlce in jacketing thecarburetor, or the pipe leading therefrom to the engine, and have notbeen capable of communicating heat from within the volume of mixture inwhat me be termed the critical point of its flow, which is just beforethe fuel enters the engine, to revent a fall in temperature in the traveof the fuel from the carburetor to the engine.

By preheating means such as are comprised in my invention, gasolene maybe rendered more serviceable than otherwlse, and heavier hydrocarlmus,such as kerosene and alcohol, may be enerated into gas and alsothoroughlyblen ed with their attendnetration of ant quotas of air, tothus enter the cylinder as an efficient explosive mixture.

Other features and advantages of my said invention will hereinafterappear.

In the drawing:

'Figure 1 is a sectional view showing a.

portion'of an engine manifold, in connection with a carbureter, andillustrating a form of my improved electrical vaporizer;

and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

In the exam le of m invention shown in the drawing, liet 1 in icate aconventional form of a carburoteryand 2 a portion of piping or passage,which may represent a pipe leading directly to the engine intake, or mayform a part of an engine manifold. Within the passage 2 I have shown aform of vaporizing device 3, represented-as the frustum of a cone, whichtapers in the direction of the engine intake, and whose base is pr0-vided with a flange 4 that is seated between the respective flanges 5'andfi of passage 2 and carburetor 1, being secured thereto as by bolts7. In this or other suitable manner the vaporizer may be localized inoperative relation with the carburetor to gasify the mixture flowing tothe engine.

he vaporizer 3 is shown as provided with a series of lengthwise arrangeda ertures 8 which serve the purpose of clivi ing up the mixture into anumber of small columns, said lengthwise apertures also having a seriesof laterally or radially communicating orifices which extend therefromto the outer surface of the vaporizertoward the inner or. tapering endthereof. Thus the mixture, which is changed to a gaseous state in thevaporizer, issues both from the lengthwise apertures and from thelateral orifices as gas'in its passage to the engine. The lateralorifices serve the purpose of providing a more free flow of the formedgas, whose efllux is expedited in this manner.

- The conical form of the vaporizer, in co 0 oration with thecylindrical form-shown thepassage 2, affords an increasing area and frothrough the series of said apertures, and its terminals secured inbinding posts 10 where it is included in an electrical circuit 11,having a source of electrical energy 12.

The resistor strands or lengths within the apertures 8 are suitablyinsulated from each other, as by constituting the vaporizer device ofmaterial which is a non-conductor of electricity. Said resistor strandsor lengths, which lie within the series of apertures 8, obviously mustnot fill said apertures, because clearance is required within theapertures for the passage of the fuel.

Variation of temperature generated in the vaporizer is desirable and maydepend in degree upon the temperature of the atmosphere or the characterof the fuel in use, and I therefore provide current regulating meanssuch as a rheostat 13, whereb the heat to be generated may be controled.

I have found in practice that by heating the resistor to incandescence,and presenting its strands or lengths to contact with the fuel passingthrough the vaporizer device, said fuel, which may have left thecarbureter in atomized condition, become vaporized and thoroughlyblended with the air in which it is suspended; the device servin in factas a combined mixingphamberan va orizer.

ariations'may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of my saidinvention, and

parts thereof used without others.

I claim 1. A vaporizing device of insulating mathe city, county and this21st day of June A I). 1917.

an internal combustion engine, and spaced therefrom. said device havinga series of lengthwise apertures for fuel flow, a continuous resistorthreaded back and forth through said apertures, and an electricalcircuit therefor, whereby the temperature of the passing fuel may beraised.

2. A vaporizing device to be located .within the manifold of an internalcombustion engine, and spaced therefrom, said device having a series oflengthwise apertures for fuel flow, each surrounded with insulatingmaterial, a continuous resistor threaded back and forth through saidapertures, and an electrical circuit therefor, whereby the temperatureof the passing fuel may be raised.

3. A conical vaporizing device to be located within the intake manifoldof an internal combustion engine, and spaced therefrom, said devicehaving a series of length Wise insulated apertures for fuel flow, and aseries of radial orifices arranged toward the tapcrin portion of saiddevice, a resistor threa ed back and forth through said lengthwiseapertures, and an electrical eir cuit therefor, whereby the temperatureof the passing'fuel may be raised.

Signed at the boron h of Manhattan in tate of New York WILLIAM WHEELER.

Witnesses:

F. W. BARKER, A. B. BARKER.

